True faith brings needy sinners to Christ, puts on Christ, and
walks in Christ. Faith brings sinners to the cross and glories only in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto us and we
unto the world.

Faithís
Connection

Though faith is not righteousness, it is the believerís connection
to righteousness. Faith finds in Christ and enjoys in Christ the assurance of
perfect, indestructible righteousness before God through the merits of Godís
own Son. Faith in Christ assures the believing sinner of eternal life and
everlasting righteousness in the ages to come, depending upon the perpetuity of
that righteousness which can never change. Blessed be God, we shall never put
off that Christ whom we put on when we believed (Rom 12:14; Gal 3:27). The
garments of salvation shall never wear thin! The robe of righteousness in which
the Lord God has clothed us shall never wax old! The beauty our Savior has put
upon us (his own beauty) is a beauty that fadeth not away!

Faithís Place

Faith abides ever at the cross. It never takes us away from the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which at first it led us. Many seem to think
that believers quickly get beyond the cross and leave it behind. Many vainly
imagine that the cross has done all it can for us once we believe the gospel.
Many tell us we must abandon the cross and go forward, that to remain always at
the cross is to be babes, not men of faith. Nonsense!

What is the cross? It is not the mere wooden
pole, or some imitation of it, such as papists use. The sooner we abandon such
idolatrous things as that, the better. When the Word of God speaks of the cross
in which faith glories, it is talking about that great gospel of Godís free
grace in Christ, the crucified Substitute, which the cross embodies. We can no
more part with that than we can part with life eternal. In this sense, to turn
our back upon the cross would be turning our back upon Christ crucified. It
would be giving up our connection with the Lamb of God slain upon the cursed
tree! This we cannot, must not, and shall not do!

All that Christ did and suffered, from the
manger to his resurrection glory, forms one glorious whole. No part of our
Redeemerís work shall ever become needless or obsolete. To forsake any part of
his work is to forsake him. I always rejoice in the incarnation of Christ. Yet,
I know that the incarnation cannot save. I always delight to follow my Master
into Gethsemane. Yet, I know that his agony there was not the finished work. I
always glory in the cross. My face is always toward it. My eye is ever on the
crucified One. Yet, I am convinced that the sacrifice there was completed once
for all. I never cease to look into the empty tomb with delight. Yet, I rejoice
to know that it is the risen, ascended, exalted, reigning Christ who gives
eternal life to this needy sinner. Leaving nothing behind, I trust the whole
Christ and the whole of his work for all my righteousness, justification,
forgiveness, acceptance, and everlasting salvation. ††††††† †††††AMEN.